The Israel-Gaza conflict has refocused attention on a part of the world in which Belgium too had ambition. From 1920 till 1948 Mandatory Palestine was run by the British under a mandate first from the League of Nations and later from the United Nations. Belgium, on the side of the Allies during the Great War, would also be seeking territorial compensation after the conflict and for many months Belgium put a lot of energy into securing a mandate over Palestine. Had it been successful, the present conflict would certainly have been experienced as a lot closer to home.
Georgi Verbeeck is a history lecturer at the universities of Leuven and Maastricht (The Netherlands). He takes up the story as it unfolded after the Great War.
"At the beginning of the 20th century the Palestinian territories and the lands that today are Israel were ruled by the Turks. The land was part of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey was an ally of Germany and that meant the Allies were also at war with Turkey. The Allies were interested in gaining control of the territories ruled by the Ottomans after the Turkish Empire had been defeated. The French and the British had placed themselves in the front row in this respect."
Belgium too sounded its voice in this debate. "Belgium believed it had an historical right to Palestine. It was a claim that had its roots in the Middle Ages. Remember Godfrey of Bouillon, a crusader of the 11th century. Some saw in Belgium’s King Albert a worthy successor to Godfrey of Bouillon, as patron of Palestine or patron of the holy places in Palestine."
"What really played a role were political considerations," Verbeeck continues. "Belgium thought it would be compensated for its role in the First World War. After all, this was the colonial era: compensation could mean a colonial possession or something similar. Religious or ecclesiastical arguments also played a role. Belgium, as a Catholic nation, saw itself well placed to assume some form of governance over the holy sites. If not the whole of Palestine, then at least some parts, and of course Jerusalem in particular."
There were also economic and financial considerations. "At this time people were constantly looking for new export markets, a market for Belgian export products."
No support for Belgium
But Palestine would never be mandated to Belgium. "Plans remained rather vague and, above all, they received scant international support. In 1917, towards the end of the Great War, it was clear the Belgian plan would not bear fruit, because by then Palestine was already occupied by the British. The other allies made it very clear that they were not willing to consider these expansionist Belgian dreams."
"When it came to Peace Treaties in Paris after the Great War, the Belgian delegation apparently made itself so insufferable that it started getting on the nerves of the British, French and Americans. And then when peace was finally made with Turkey in 1920 and then again in 1923, it was very clear that the international community and certainly the Allies - the big boys – were unwilling to listen to Belgian demands."
Mandatory Palestine was awarded to the British to run until the mandate expired in 1948 and the State of Israel was proclaimed.
East Cantons
So did Belgium get something else in its place? "When it became clear that the Palestine plan had to be dropped, people in Belgium started to focus more on what was really important and these were plans for real annexation: to the detriment of the Netherlands, to the detriment of Germany and to the detriment of Luxembourg. The Netherlands and Luxembourg were eventually spared, but a small piece of Germany was annexed by Belgium. That is what we today call the East Cantons or the German-speaking area of eastern Belgium."
"There was also a small border correction in Central Africa that encompassed the area that today makes up the states of Rwanda and Burundi. These areas were part of a larger German colony and in the event was added to Belgium’s colonies. Technically, though, that wasn't quite what happened: the territories were entrusted to Belgium under a mandate from the League of Nations, and later the United Nations. Belgium was allowed to administer the area until Rwanda and Burundi became independent in 1962."